Acknowledgement
by Raiyane
Summary: A short Jericho x Ban drabble. Mostly for practice with romance and because this site needs more Nanatsu no Taizai. Enjoy! *Maybe slight spoiler for those who aren't fairly caught up on the manga.*


Her amber eyes went to the towering white haired male who stood in front of her. Her gaze burned into the back of his maroon colored, leather top as she glared. Maybe King had been right. Maybe she shouldn't have stayed with him.

After protecting the forest, King had headed off to Boar's Hat, and after much arguing, Jericho found herself walking slowly behind Ban, who hadn't said a word to her since King's departure. She just wanted some kind of acknowledgement, much to her own chagrin. She wanted to believe that she didn't love the smartass, aloof sin, but who the hell was she fooling? It wasn't that she owed him. It wasn't that she was worried about him. It wasn't that she really wanted to help him revive Elaine. She just wanted to be with him.

"Oi…." Ban finally spoke in his usual, lazy tone, not looking over his shoulder.

The sound of his voice caused a small gasp to escape her lips, which then caused her to clap her hands over her mouth, a vivid blush spreading over her pale cheeks.

"Do I got somethin' on my back or somethin'?" Ban asked, stopping and looking over his shoulders.

Her eyes widened. He could feel her staring… Then again, wouldn't anyone? God, she was an idiot. What should she say? DAMMIT! Why was she even asking that?! She should be direct, like someone who was strong, of course. "N-no," she stammered out hoarsely. Okay. That definitely didn't sound strong.

A part of her hoped that Ban would tease her like he did King… Or at least have some kind of rebuttal and piss her off. She felt a sickening drop in her heart when he just turned back around without a word and continued walking. The anger and frustration that she felt only made her blush more. She wanted to stomp her foot and yell at him to pay attention to her… But… That was childish… And did she have that kind of right? She knew that whoever Elaine was, she meant more to Ban than she ever could.

All of her life, she had wanted to be strong… She had wanted to be strong to be acknowledged by her brother who had told her to give up on ever being a Holy Knight… Now… She wanted to be strong. She wanted to be strong so that she could mean something to Ban… Or maybe she wanted to be strong so that she could get over him… But… Could the latter even be possible?

DAMN HIM! He made her head a mess. She wanted to scream at him just because of that. But… It wasn't his fault…? YES! It had to be his fault. He had saved her. He didn't have to save her. Someone else could have. And then she could forget all of about the Fox's Sin Greed, who would never love her back.

That was her conclusion. She would blame him for everything. Wasn't he known as Bandit Ban at one point, anyway? That's right. He was a thief of her heart! NO! How stupid did she sound? At least no one could hear her. Her turmoil was her own. She would follow Ban, and once Elaine was revived, she'd move on… Right? Right….? Right?!

"Pick up the pace," Ban's voice snapped her out of her thoughts and she looked up to see him staring over his shoulder once again. "You're not gonna get in my way, right, Janeto~?"

His words stung, even though she HAD promised him that she wouldn't be getting in his way during all of this. It was just the way that he said it. While he had his usual, sing-song like drawl, there was an edge to his voice. She forced herself to not even focus on the tone of his voice and instead focus on the fact that he had gotten her name wrong… AGAIN. "It's Jericho!" she snapped, her hands tightening into fists.

"Right, Jaleco~" Ban said with a wave of dismissal.

* * *

_**Author's Note: **__Yep. Just a little bit of practice before my Fairy Tail fics start having a lot of romance in them because I haven't written legitimate, drama filled romance in a while and I'm honestly not good at one-sided romance so I wanted to practice. Hope you enjoyed. Sorry for those of you who are waiting on Silver Griffin, Sunrise Haven or Charon Cross to be updated, but this was a bit of practice before a class, typed up in like, 30 minutes. I'm working slowly on the other three works and they'll be updated at the end of this week and throughout next week, which is spring break. _

_Hope you enjoyed! :3 If I get reviews, I may do a few more Nanatsu one shots... :U_


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